And to the Old Things
by neongreenleaves
Summary: The house groaned as Remus stood at its base, peering up at the shutters that flashed in the dull sun. A tickling sensation ran up his spine as looked at it. What could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything, Remus finds out soon enough. Ghosts aren't particularly things that are right after all, seeing as they aren't supposed to even exist! ...Right? (Human AU, slightly ghosty)
1. Haunt- Chapter 1

**Summary: The house groaned as Remus stood at its base, peering up at the shutters that flashed in the dull sun. A tickling sensation ran up his spine as he looked at it. What could possibly go wrong?**

**Pretty much everything, Remus finds out soon enough. Ghosts aren't particularly a thing that is _right _after all, seeing as they aren't supposed to even exist! **

**...Right?**

Haunt

The house groaned as Remus stood at its base, peering up at the shutters that flashed in the dull sun. A tickling sensation ran up his spine as he looked at it. What could possibly go wrong?

_Definitely everything._

Everything was wrong! Remus groaned as he glared at the door of his new, very broken looking, house. This was not what he had wanted in life, some creepy old mansion that his parents had gotten at a low price. Shivers ran down his spine, and it occurred to him that he did _not _want to know why the price was set at that level.

He jerked his feet out of his car, twisting his body out of the truck to stretch his legs after the hour it had taken to get here to check the place out. Remus' lips pursed at the thought of moving in within the next week.

Why did this always happen to him? Surely bad luck wasn't real, but here he was! Kicked out of his last place via the two dogs he wasn't supposed to own… Well, that was a good reason to be kicked out of an apartment, but Remus had felt very sorry for the strays- both of which whined in the back of the truck through the cracked open window.

"Don't worry, guys. You'll be out soon, just let me check to make sure there's nothing you can eat that might kill ya both," Remus snorted out as the pups stuck their noses out and snuffled. "Yeah, yeah. I'll hurry up." He must admit, he was awfully fond of them both. It's too bad they had to move, though. The apartment definitely seemed a lot cleaner than this old dump.

Remus grimaced at the shutters which banged open. _I'm gonna have to fix those, aren't I. Glad I'm good with my hands at least. Carpentry class will come in handy in this place._

It took a moment to shuffle out the keys from his pocket, and warily walk up the cracked concrete stairway, with another dull note to fix that up or replace it. The gate, opened with the first key on the ring Remus held, swung open easily enough with a loud squeal that he had dutifully expected, but upon looking at the large oak door of the entrance, Remus thought that perhaps not everything was going to be completely fixable.

The cracks lining the dark wood, and the metal knocker loomed over him eerily, the eyes of the wolf- which Remus eyed back- peered out as murky glass marbles. This also gave Remus the shivers, not hair-raising, but enough to keep his eyes on them as he stuffed the heavy key into the keyhole and cracked the door open.

Heavy dust, laden with the air of old musk, blew straight into his face. Remus choked and his eyes watered slightly. Was this place not cleaned for a hundred years or something? Surely that must dust couldn't exist in a place without living things…

Remus gaped.

Dim light filtered in through the windows, some of which lined the ceiling with stained glass, the rest which were covered in dust and grime, barely letting anything in. It lit the entrance faintly up, revealing white, dirtied cloth covered a numerous amount of things piled in corners fashioned with dank and lines of dripping water.

Despite the dirtiness of the place on first arrive, his mind boggled at the thought of suddenly owning so much. Remus felt giddy, and his heart jumped as he grabbed the nearest white sheet, yanking it back to reveal dark oak wood of an old grandfather clock.

The beautiful machine hadn't worked for some time, Remus noted as his fingertips grazed the shining surface, but it hadn't stopped the beauty from lessening in the slightest. He could practically feel the potential for the tick to come back to the gold adorned hands and numerals that circled glass mirror. The old clock had little scratches as far as Remus could tell, and had been well taken care of, told only by the staining and most likely many polishes it had in its time. He ran his hands down the sleek sides, bumping over only gold details of the borders that lay in small vines.

He grinned quickly, yanking at another white sheet nearby, revealing a small chest. He guessed at what it sat on sideways, which was most likely a sofa. The chest, much like the clock and the house, was an old dark oak, but closer to black than the others, and was bordered with brass and had a padlock rusted on it tightly. Remus moved the chest to the back of his mind, vowing to pay it more attention later when he had the time. For now, as the sofa was uncovered and the dust settled quietly from the rustled sheets, Remus sat gingerly on the edge, slightly surprised that the cushions hadn't given out by now.

He looked around, spotting the other corners taken up by more stuff he had yet to uncover, and realized just how much of a job it was going to be in order to clean, organize, and move everything if this was only just the entrance.

Remus huffed. So much for relaxing, but at least the feeling of unease was gone inside of the house. Only the faint light gave an impression of mystery, the rest was just old and dusty. Not so freaky, basically.

He brushed his pant bottoms off, now coated lightly in white, and stood up to crack his back and pad heavily to the ornate staircase at the end of the entrance. Looking up, the ceiling seemed much higher than he originally anticipated. That's not so bad though, right? At least there's no sense of suffocation that one might get in an apartment. _There's so much room here, it might just make up for the creepy exterior_, Remus thought with a sarcastic snort.

The wooden boards creaked less than the door and gate, but sounded loudly in the quiet hall as he climbed the stairs. Certainly would provide enough exercise to work off all the Chinese food he liked to eat, due to just the sheer amount there were. Remus laughed quietly as he panted. God he was so out of shape.

His feet pushed off the top step, and Remus eyed the long hallway that drew off to his left and right, carpeted in front of him, instead of the dark wood. His shoes, which stepped upon the... actually, it was just a very long rug, Remus noticed. Well, as he stepped on the rug, it kicked up more dust that quickly found its way unfortunately into his nose, causing the poor guy to sneeze loudly and swipe the carpet out from under him violently. Remus cried out as he grabbed at the banister, planting his feet loudly.

He waited until he could see properly to move again, using his heel to spread the rolled carpet out again. This time, he shuffled over it. No more dust would be welcome in his respiratory tract, thank you.

On his left, Remus soon found that the hallway did not actually end so early, instead it curved off, leading him towards the back of his building, and to more and more shut doors that he, like the chest, vowed to open. But not right now. Later, when he had time and cleaning supplies, and especially a mask.

Precautions were best, after all. Remus was not dumb enough to enter unknown doors without the right equipment. These places must have been left alone for a very long time, even if the last owners had opened them. The entire place looked un-lived in for a very, very long period.

Remus spotted the end of the corridor and sighed happily. At least thing place was slightly manageable in size. The upstairs left was now searched via size, now off to the right.

(Remus found out it simply mirrored the left, and felt very grateful for that fact, which meant most of the building probably just mirrored itself.)

He hopped down the staircase happily, and back into the entrance to search the frontyard. Poor dogs had been out in the car too long for his liking, and guilt ate at his gut lightly. Doing a once over, and satisfied with the fact there was no trash or broken bottles, Remus opened his car and let loose his dogs in his front yard.

_Never had a front yard before, much less this large_, Remus grinned to himself. It felt nice, to be able to have this amount of room. Perhaps he'd find another stray? There was certainly enough space for a third, and he was always a sucker for the big ones...

Remus laughed as one of his dogs, Rex, the tan and grey one with shaggy hair, chased after a squirrel and barked happily out loud. The other, Jack, paced leisurely over to where Remus stood, and wagged his tail. His tongue lolled out as Remus patted him fondly.

"This good enough for you mutts?"

Jack barked happily, licking at Remus' hand.

"I'm glad."

Remus looked up as the dog proceeded to follow after Rex, who now barked up a large willow tree bordering the side of the square, where the squirrel had found a safe place.

The house soon drew his attention, again, as his eyes caught movement in the windows. This time, as the clouds passed over and blew a chilly wind, Remus couldn't blame the cold quite much for the sudden hairs that prickled on the back of his neck as he stared at the upstairs attic window.

A black shadow, except for two bright shining eyes, stared back down at him...

... Remus was frozen in place as his eyes locked on the thing between the shutters. It seemed to glow with darkness, swallowing the light from the sun that bounced off all the other windows. It's eyes, bright, were the only thing that Remus could tell with distinctness.

It was _staring at him_.

Remus felt its eyes on his skin, boring icy holes into his brain as the air chilled and the sun began to fade behind the clouds. The thing... it stood... motionless in its place, piercing irises peering down into Remus' brown ones. Remus, in turn, felt his legs lock up and the muscles in his arms tense as he dug his nails into his palms. Sweat bead his skin.

No one was inside.

No one was inside, he was sure!

No one had lived here for ages, but his eyes played no tricks as the figure swayed lightly, finally, in the window, and slowly backed away, lifting a dark arm up to the glass as it moved back, not breaking eye contact.

Remus hissed through his teeth as the black figure faded, the impression of its eyes staying in his spine and inside him, leaving only adrenalin in his veins, and fear spiked in his blood.

No one... lived... inside the house?

Rex barked, and Remus' head whipped to his dark, still facing up the tree. Remus lifted a shaking hand up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, thankful for his dog breaking his thoughts away from... that. He couldn't help but lift his eyes back up though, which widened drastically as he looked at the closed shutters, and boarded up window.

No. _No! _

_It doesn't matter, _Remus thought to himself as his heart gave a jolt, and he forced himself to physically call out to his dogs, who padded happily over to him and sat at his feet.

"Seems like we're going back. This is enough exploring for today, I think."

In truth, Remus was shaking, too afraid to step back into that place today now that he had noticed something was most definitely sharing the place with him and his two dogs now.

And he was definitely unsure of the fact that it may or may not be friendly at all.

_Those eyes..._

Remus hooked leashes back onto his dogs and led them to his car, hopping into the driver's seat and driving away to stay the night somewhere else.

The image of burning cold eyes bore themselves into his brains, even as the lulling roar of traffic caused his mind to go numb.


	2. Visit- Chapter 2

**Summary: The house groaned as Remus stood at its base, peering up at the shutters that flashed in the dull sun. A tickling sensation ran up his spine as he looked at it. What could possibly go wrong?**

**Pretty much everything, Remus finds out soon enough. Ghosts aren't particularly a thing that is right after all, seeing as they aren't supposed to even exist!**

**...Right?**

Visit- Chapter 2

Remus yawned loudly, stretching out his arms in attempts to get his blood flow working. Groaning at the time, which read 11:30 am, he swung his legs over the small bed and pushed aside the daisy- adorned bed sheets. He really ought to have gotten up earlier, why hadn't his mother woken him up?! He needed to let the dogs out, do laundry and get ready to go back… to…

Remus halted in his tracks, halfway through shrugging on a fleece bathrobe.

"Oh god I have to go back don't I." It was already a week gone? Surely it wasn't that fast…

His eyes dragged over to the calendar above the nightstand and he moaned quietly under his breath at the circled date.

With a slight bit of misery, and keeping his eyes trailed upon the date, he shoved his toes into the other slipper and one arm into the bathrobe. This was not entirely something he had been looking forward to.

But then again, as Remus sighed and walked out in the hallway, he couldn't have stayed in his parents' house for very much longer. He was an adult after all. A very responsible one.

"Mornin' ma. Morning dad," Remus yawned out as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Well you sure slept in late, honey."

Remus rolled his eyes as his mother chuckled. "Only because you didn't wake me up. I was exhausted. I took both Rex and Jack to the dog park yesterday for four hours you know that."

"Now, now, Remus. It isn't your mother's job to wake you up. You are old enough by now to do that yourself." Remus huffed at his father, who sipped his mug of coffee and hid a grin. "And anyways, those dogs are easy on you, they're very sweet. You ought to get a rowdy one."

His father laughed, setting his coffee on the counter as Remus helped himself to some cereal from the cupboards. "Now why would I get another one?" He said, playfully fighting back. He always did hold a fondness for his father's games.

He anticipated the grin. "Because those dogs don't make you work as much. If you got another active one, maybe you'd finally grow some muscle!"

Remus glared at his father and huffed. Perhaps he didn't like this one, then. "I have muscle!"

Remus' father laughed joyfully, and left the room without saying anything else.

"I do so have muscle." He repeated moodily as he finished off the cereal and got himself a cup of coffee, gulping it down quickly and licking his lips. That hit the spot.

"Or maybe with three, you'd finally attract some sort of other dog- loving man!"

Remus yelped loudly, his cup jiggling and tipping over as his father yelled from the living room.

"Dad!"

His mother laughed, but called out with fond sternness, "Lyall!"

The man laughed in response. "Alright, alright, I'll stop picking on our son!"

ooooooooooooooo

The drive down to the mansion was long and slow to Remus, but at the same time went way too fast for him.

Ignoring the feeling of unease, and the urge to turn and run away, Remus felt for his door handle and stepped out of the car, letting Rex and Jack leap out of the back. They followed the shaken man as he opened the gate, and ran into the front yard, yapping away. But even the happy dogs, who barked another squirrel up a tree, could not push down the dread that welled up in Remus' gut as he stared up at the windows.

The figure, of course, was not there, but to Remus that only meant one thing: it was somewhere else in the house, just waiting for him to arrive.

The young man gulped, tightening his hold on the small box he held in his hands- filled with some small essentials to get around the house, including but not limited to a flashlight, some duct tape, a notepad, and some other tools.

Remus practically forced his feet to shut the gate behind him and press the 'lock' button on the car keys, setting them upon his box afterwards.

The feelings in his stomach welled up to his chest, and he gritted his teeth.

He was a strong man. He could do this. Don't act like a child!

Remus drew a heavy breath and let it out slowly between his teeth to calm himself, then stood up straight and moved his slightly unwilling legs towards the entrance. _I can protect myself from that thing if need be. I've got some tools, and whatever is might be scared of me, perhaps?_

The thoughts didn't quell the fright that shook the man slightly, who joggled the keys and unlocked the mansion's front door, which he left cracked open slightly… _Just in case, y'know._

The entrance was the same as his last visit, the light filtering in through the ceiling stained glass, and the white sheets strewn on the floor from where he had torn them off the furniture. The dust still speckled in the sunlight, and it accentuated the dull quiet of the mansion that made no sounds in Remus' ears. He only heard his dogs' faint barks, and nothing else from inside the building.

Remus took a deep breath, and scuffled over to the staircase warily, setting down the box. He dropped his keys inside, and drew out a wrench and wire cutters.

"If anything," Remus announced quietly, grinning, "I sure anticipated this."

In the corner, as it had been the last time, the chest sat quietly upon the sofa, waiting to be cracked open. The lock, old and rusted, drew Remus in quickly, who practically jogged over to it, and kneeled down to get a better look at it. It was small, and was attached to the chest with a small metal chain, as of which was also rusted.

"This'll be easy, I think," Remus spoke, confident in his ability to break it. He lifted the lock and wire cutters in his hands, opening its jaws and preparing to clamp them down.

A crash sounded, and Remus flung the lock down, jumping to his feet as he stared at the tumbling furniture on the other side of the hall.

His breath came out in pants as he lifted the wire cutters, and fought the urge to call out 'who's there?' like they had in the movies. He backed up till his back hit the wall, and his eyes scanned the entrance. Nothing moved once all the objects settled from under the white sheets and all was quiet, thankfully, but it didn't stop his running heartbeat from pounding in his ears.

Remus licked his now dry lips, and let his arm relax from the poised position that had been above his head. His open hand ran through his hair, catching on some strands that stuck to his forehead with nervous sweat, and he noticed vaguely he was shaking.

He breathed. Once, twice… And calmed his heart, figuring only it was gravity that finally took its toll on the objects, or maybe a rat.

Remus stood up from his slumped position on the wall, and went back to the chest. He took his tools, ignoring the fact that he wanted to keep his back to the wall, and clamped them back over the small chain that connected the lock to the chest, and slammed the handles down.

It snapped off easily, the lock falling to the hardwood floor with a metallic clunk, and the chain clinking after. The chest, now bare of any barriers, made Remus feel a little better.

He cracked his knuckles, reaching for the lid, when another crash and falling furniture made him whip around, stumbling backwards as he stared at the fluttering white sheets that cascaded up with a harsh wind, and fluttered down to the ground.

He watched them, shaking more as he let himself fall down upon the couch next to the chest.

They floated, shaking up more dust, but one by one lifted off the floor.

_Oh god, oh god… _In horror, his eyes followed them as they drifted lazily over to where he sat, and hovered above him.

"Oh god!" Remus yelped, jumping out of his seat and running to the door as the sheets all dropped heavily at once at where he had sat.

He yanked the door out of the way as the dust settled from the white blankets, but more objects started to fall from the stacks. "Oh god, let me out!"

Behind him, the door slammed ominously and the dogs barked at the man, tongues lolling as they greeted the shaking form of their owner. Licking his hands, they stood on their hind legs and pawed at his legs.

"Y… yeah thanks guys." Remus laughed, voice breaking a little as he stumbled away from the house, not daring to face it. "Now get off my lap, I need to get my…. keys…"

Remus mouth gaped and fear grabbled intensely at his entire body.

"No… Nonono! Oh please no," Remus pleaded under his breath, shutting his eyes tightly as he checked him pockets in abandon for the small keys. "They're inside, aren't they…"

_As if my luck could get any worse…._ Remus groaned loudly in frustration, pulling at his hair as his dogs skidded around him in oblivious happiness.

"Guys… guys calm down!" Remus said sternly, grappling at the two dogs' leashes. "I have to go inside, but you two are coming with this time because I sure as hell am not goin' alone."

The dogs wagged their tales, happy to have their owner just pay attention to them at least.

Remus smiled nervously at them both, and tugged them towards the entrance until they began to take the lead.

He really did not want to do this.

But he had to.

Remus unlocked the door, as quietly as he could, and stepped in first as the dogs sniffed at the ground at the door. His eyes, which stared at each of the stacks, widened as they immediately started to take action again, things falling and clattering to the ground again.

The noise made Rex and Jack lift his head, and bound happily inside to see what was happening. Remus almost jerked their leashes back and yell at them to get away from the stacks of stuff, but then his eyes caught upon the piles only to see they were completely, and utterly, unmoving.

Nothing was falling, only frozen in place, as the dogs ran around sniffing.

Remus gaped openly at the display.

_Everything looks… frozen in time… Why? Why now?_

Then it all started to shift, and Remus jerked in his place, but hesitantly relaxed once he noticed it was settling slowly and delicately in place.

It was as if it all didn't want to hurt his dogs, Remus realized, as he watched a small chair pause as his dog ran underneath of it, but missed it since the chair had slowed down. It set itself upon the floor, much like everything else, in a neat orderly fashion.

Remus fell to the ground, leaning against the door, and he sighed, rubbing his hands and smiling at Rex as the dog sneezed and caused a wave of dust to lift off the ground. Jack, in turn, bounded over to him and sat beside his legs, watching the other dog enjoy himself.

"Be careful Rex," he called out quietly, letting his head fall back and hit the door as he closed his eyes in relief of the calm atmosphere.

The dog barked in response.

ooooooooooooooooo

"No, no don't go… over there…" Remus groaned loudly, chasing after Rex. "We need to go back you stupid mutt! We've been here for three hours!"

Rex yelped loudly and turned around quickly, running off in the other direction as Remus fought to turn around, skidding over the wood floor panels.

"Stupid dog! Stop!" he panted out, laughing.

The dog didn't stop willingly, but caused Remus some worry as it yipped and ran into a pile of bunched up white sheets and got tangled. Remus caught up quickly and scooped him up in his arms.

"Jesus, Rex, what do you weigh!" He gritted out the side of his mouth, and teetered over to the doorway where Jack sat patiently panting. "I ought to change your diet and get mom to feed you less steak."

The dog, wiggling out of the pile as he was set down, did not reply, but sniffed at Jack.

The man, who twisted to crack his back, drawled. "Finally we get to leave, it's way too dusty in here. I swear I'm going to get permanent dust in my lungs if I live like this. I need to remember cleaning supplies."

He trailed off as his dogs wagged and whined at the door to be let out. "Yeah, yeah. Impatient much?"

Remus had barely opened the doors and let the dogs outside, when an echoing voice came heavily down behind him.

"Wait!"


	3. (So much cleaning to do)-Chapter 3

**Summary: The house groaned as Remus stood at its base, peering up at the shutters that flashed in the dull sun. A tickling sensation ran up his spine as he looked at it. What could possibly go wrong?**

**Pretty much everything, Remus finds out soon enough. Ghosts aren't particularly a thing that is right after all, seeing as they aren't supposed to even exist!**

**...Right?**

(So much cleaning to do)- Chapter 3

"Wait!"

Remus swiveled around, his arm swinging up in immediate response to protect himself. He felt his shoulders stiffen and his jaw fell as he looked upon the figure near the staircase.

"Ah… "The… thing… scratched his head and looked towards where his feet hovered inches above the floor. Its feet, like the rest of its body, shimmered slightly in the fading light, which bore its shaded body rather see-through. It was as if the thing was a shadow itself, but contoured and detailed and not entirely dark.

An awkward silence fell upon him, but Remus was feeling none of that as he stared in shock.

Remus only felt frozen.

The ghost thingy, _at this point Remus had no clue to acknowledge it_, swallowed and tried to speak again, roughly as if he was very reluctant to speak. "If you're leaving, will you bring back the dogs?"

Remus choked and began to laugh, sputtering indignantly. "Jesus fuck I must be going insane for sure! Here I am meeting some sort of ghost and it asks to bring _the dogs back!"_

The ghost coughed, rubbing at his arm as his face twisted. "Yeah well, at least the dogs are good company. For all I know, you'll be a damn pest and can piss right off for all I care." The ghost by now looked straight at him, and Remus felt shivers as its grey eyes bore straight into him, driving away his ridiculous laughter very quickly. "Seriously, piss off."

He licked his dry lips and wrapped his hands once more around the dogs' leashes. "Yeah well, maybe I'll bring the dogs. If I even come back to the likes of here again. It's a dump."

Before the ghost could retort, Remus walked out of the place and slammed the door behind him shut, walking briskly to his car and driving away.

"Hah. Calling me a pest!" Remus frowned, safely inside his car. "Damn ghost is the pest if anything. Rude."

He paused as he slowed at a light and looked at his dogs in the rear-view mirror. "I'm never going back there again."

_What a damn lie that is_.

Remus scowled.

_Shit, I'm going to be living there._

His head hit the steering wheel as he groaned loudly, taking a moment for self-pity before the drivers behind him started to honk their horns.

ooooooooooooooooooo

And just as he predicted, Remus was back before he knew it.

Plus cleaning supplies.

And the dogs… as expected.

He let the roam just as before, not giving the ghost the satisfaction of having them around quite yet. Instead, Remus had mentally devised a plan to come to a sort of agreement with the see-through being, so that he wouldn't have to live too terribly. After all, it was a fairly cheap living space, and large, and with a bit of retouching it could literally be grand.

From what he hoped at least.

Remus rubbed the head of the spray bottle nervously and rolled his shoulder, bearing the weight of the container full of products to be soon used. Guess he should go right on ahead in and bear right to the point? The ghost is expecting him right now, probably, so it's due time to just take a step onto the porch and walk right through like he owned the place, which he does. He's got the papers to prove it. But the dogs will probably want to come in too, unless they're fine out here. But Remus should stay out here for a little while before going inside, right? Watch over them for a little bit…

Ah shoot, who was he kidding. Remus groaned, "There's no point in rambling, I'm just wasting time."

He just needed to… get _right _up in there and… uh… show that ghost who is boss. Yeah. That's a good plan. Wait no it's not, it's a horrible plan!

"I really need to- woah! Rex no don't…. ahh…" Remus sighed as the dog ran past him hurriedly, headed straight towards the front entrance door and pawing at the ground excitedly.

"No beating around the bush with you two here, is there."

The two dogs barked happily, tails wagging away even though there was potentially _a huge freaking threat a few feet away._

"Right," Remus jarred the door open and the dogs leapt through easily, and he was immediately met with beautiful, absolute silence.

Shifting the weight to the ground and cracking his back, Remus smiled and picking out a cleaning bottle and cloth. "Well, for as long as it's not here, I might as well enjoy cleaning."

For the next hour, Remus worked away at the dusty entrance, figuring it would be easier cleaning one area at a time. He didn't want to even imagine what the other rooms must be like right now. At least in here the natural light came easily from above. It shone multicolored sunlight on the old wood floors, and reflected off the surfaces than Remus removed the grime from. Soon, he watched as everything began to piece together and it began to look beautiful once more. Old, but what would have been amazing was once again, but in a slightly more sophisticated way.

The corners piled with stuff was left alone for a moment, as was the chest full of things that Remus fought to not dig through, due to the fact there was enough to do at that moment. But he did happen across a good small record player and some records while he shifted some things to get to the rest of the floor to clean. The slightly scratchy orchestra music helped to break the silence, but not rough enough to make it no longer peaceful.

Remus hummed along with whatever melody was playing at the moment, the violin bringing him to swing around as he swept the dust into a pile.

The dogs had tried to disturb the piles of fluff and accumulation of everything a few times, but backed away with some warning broom swishes that caused them to sneeze. They now occupied the floor next to the staircase, already clean in fear of Remus having to give them another bath this week.

Remus twirled as the crescendo hit, the music dramatically filling the room in the midday sun, and he felt a sudden glee, and freedom as he realized no one would be able to judge him at the moment. The broom, now forgotten as a cleaning item, swiveled around with the man who grinned in spite of himself, his shoes long dismissed at the door so his socks spun easily on the cleaned floorboards.

He looked up, disregarding the dizziness slowly accumulating in his brain, and laughed as the lights of the sun trickled down from the glass ceiling in shades of oranges, and reds, and every other color he could imagine.

It was beautiful.

But making him very dizzy, and Remus giggled as he toppled over onto the floor, catching himself before he hit his head. He laid there, in the colored sunlight, looking up at the stain glass to catch his breath that faintly panted through his wide grin. Laughing under his breath, he let out a breath and breathed in deeply as his eyes closed and the music slowed down, changing tunes.

The quiet murmur of cellos and flutes began, and Remus folded his hands over his stomach, simply breathing in and out. He could hear his dogs snuffling away near the stairs, and the wind outside as well as a few birds, but nothing else. There was no chaos or confusion, just them, and Remus felt calm as he just laid there and listened.

He might have even fallen asleep right there if it hadn't been for the rough cough of a something terrible where his dogs were, and obviously meant to be intruding.

Remus twitched, and his smile faded, but he ignored the loud sound.

At least until it was right above him, and really very fake.

"You know, I brought the dogs so the least you could do was let me do my thing in peace."

The ghost huffed indignantly. "As if I'd leave you here to do such a thing as _enjoy yourself. _Who would even let someone like you in my house?"

Remus answered calmly, smirking. "The realty agency it seems. Seeing as I _own this house._"

The ghost sputtered. "You!? But you are so young and immature!"

The young man on the ground opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at the ghost. "Says the dead teenager."

Remus watched as the ghost's face fell and became gloomy, looking away and saying nothing.

"What, got nothing to say?"

The ghost sneered down at him, flicking Remus a middle finger and then dissipating.

"Right, and I'm the immature one," Remus called out, even though the ghost was nowhere in sight.

"Fuck off!"

The echo eerily sounded around the empty entrance, coming from nowhere and causing Remus to sigh in frustration.

"Mmm. Right."

A slightly quieter echo soon came after Remus rubbed his face. "And I'm not a teenager so fuck you again, I'm 22!"

Remus groaned louder, _Great, so he's not even young and immature! He's old and still as irritating as a child!_

_I'm screwed._


End file.
